“The video of the wedding is on YouTube, ma’am. It’s gone viral, and everybody is talking about it.”
Yvonne remained silent as this bit of information sank in.
“You didn’t know?” the woman asked, her voice almost compassionate.
“I’ve been out of the country. I just got back in town. I’m going to have to check out some things before I can make any type of statement,” Yvonne responded mechanically.
“That’s fine, Pastor Yvonne, but can you tell me how long your relationship with Thomas Reed has been going on? He is quite a notable figure, so when pictures of him in a lip-lock with you surfaced, of course the news media went wild. And I’d just like to know if I could get an exclusive interview.”
Yvonne hung up the phone and then sat down on the couch as she tried to make sense of the nightmare that was unfolding in front of her. Someone at the wedding must have filmed Robbie falling all over the place, throwing up, and then passing out. And then another person had taken pictures of her and Thomas as they kissed—or did the same person do both? Yvonne had a sinking feeling that she knew exactly who had done this, and his name was Edward Marvel Williams.
She went into her home office and turned on the computer. The first site she visited was YouTube, where she typed in the search terms “Tia and Robbie’s wedding.” The video popped right up. It had already received almost a million views. As Yvonne watched the entire fiasco for the second time, her heart went out to Tia, who was bound to be more mortified than ever before. And to think that she hadn’t wanted to have her wedding at the church because she feared that people would talk about the fact that she was pregnant and unwed. Well, they won’t have time to talk about the pregnancy now, Yvonne thought. They’ll all be too busy laughing at the fall-down drunk of a groom.
As Yvonne watched Robbie try to stand up time and time again and then finally pass out, she saw something that had escaped her notice while the scene had unfolded in real time. She pressed the play button once more and watched it again, this time paying close attention to Robbie’s eyes. They weren’t red or bloodshot, as usually happened to someone when he’d had too much to drink. No, he didn’t look drunk; he looked like he’d been drugged.
“Well, I’ll be!” Yvonne said aloud as she marveled at how quickly she had come to side with the man who’d caused her daughter immense pain and humiliation. Okay, maybe she wasn’t on his side exactly, but she at least believed his story. “Why’d you have to take the beer from Marvel in the first place, Robbie?” she wondered.
She navigated from YouTube to her Google homepage, where she typed in the search terms “Yvonne Milner + Thomas Reed.” Countless pages of results came up, many of them having to do with various conferences where both of them had preached. So, Yvonne started looking for the most recent items. When she found one with the word “pictures” in the heading, she clicked on the link. There she was in full color. In one photo, she was holding Thomas’s hand, and in another, she was leaning against his shoulder. Both very innocent and easy to explain. But the other photos were not going to be so easily explained.
She and Thomas were staring into each other’s eyes, then embracing. As Yvonne looked at those pictures, she recalled that very intimate moment—the moment that she and Thomas realized they could no longer pretend, and they leaned in closer and let their lips touch. The next photos showed just how passionate the kiss became. Yvonne closed her laptop without turning it off. She couldn’t look at any more photos. Because those photos made something that had been a beautiful moment in time for her seem dirty and common.
She heard her front door open and figured that it was Toya. That, or one of those reporters had just broken into her house. The only other people who had keys to her home were Tia and Toya, and Tia was headed back to Chicago right now. “Toya?” she called out.
“Yeah, Mama, it’s me,” her daughter shouted from downstairs.
Yvonne left her office and joined Toya in the living room.
“What’s going on out there?” Toya demanded. “The moment I pulled up, those reporters bum-rushed me. They’re saying that you and Uncle Thomas have been having an affair. Is that true, Mama?”
Never in a million years had Yvonne expected that she would ever need to explain her conduct to her children. And she really didn’t want to start now. “What are you doing here? I thought you were going home to rest!”
“Marvel has a dinner party that he wants me to attend with him. So, I came over here to borrow one of your little black dresses.”
“No, Toya, you can’t go anywhere with that man. He’s trying to destroy our family.”
Toya backed up and lifted her hands to halt her mother. “Whoa, what are you talking about?”
“Marvel is out to get us. I don’t know why, but you’ve got to trust me on this. That man taped Robbie’s drunken behavior at the wedding and then posted the video on YouTube. And then he took pictures of me and Thomas....” She looked away, unable to finish her statement.
“So, it’s true, then? You and Uncle Thomas were caught...k-i-s-s-i-n-g?” When she’d finished spelling the word with no protest from Yvonne, she put her hand over her mouth and stared in amazement. Her look wasn’t accusatory, though. In fact, Yvonne thought she detected a bit of laughter in her eyes as she continued, “Mama, do I need to have the talk with you about boys and not letting them get to first base?”
“Hush up, Toya. This is not funny.”
“Really, Mama, I don’t see what the big deal is. If you and Uncle Thomas have feelings for each other, then I say go for it!”
“It’s not that simple, Toya.”
“Why isn’t it? Daddy has been dead for almost two years, and Ms. Brenda has been dead longer than that, so there is nothing holding you back from being with each other. Just go for it, and quit being so secretive about everything.”
“I’m not being secretive, and Thomas and I have not been sneaking around. The kiss just happened—that’s it, and that’s all. But you and I need to talk about Marvel. I want you to stay away from him, Toya.”
Shaking her head, Toya told her mother, “I really like Marvel, Mama. He’s the first guy I’ve been totally into in a long time. And I don’t think he’s responsible for any of the things you’re trying to pin on him. He told me you were paranoid, and I’m starting to believe him.”
With her hands on her hips, Yvonne said, “Even if I am paranoid, Toya, it doesn’t mean that Marvel isn’t really out to get me.”
Toya threw up her hands. “This is too much for me. I’m leaving. You can keep your black dress. I’ll just go buy myself a new one.”
“Don’t leave yet, Toya. We still need to discuss this.”
“There’s nothing to discuss, Mama. I’m not trying to interfere with your relationship with Uncle Thomas, and I don’t want you trying to interfere with my relationship with Marvel. Good night.” Toya opened the front door and quickly closed it behind her.
Yvonne wanted to run after her daughter. She needed to chase the boogeyman away from her. But when she looked out the window, she saw that a handful of reporters were still staking out her home. She lifted her eyes to heaven. “Lord, I need You to open Toya’s eyes,” she prayed.
The phone rang. Yvonne was tempted not to answer it, but then she looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Thomas. “Thomas, we’re in trouble,” she said when she picked up the phone.
“Were reporters waiting on you when you got home, too?” he asked.
“Yes. And one just called me. They have a video of the wedding, plus pictures of us in a very intimate moment. I just reviewed all of the sordid mess online, and I’m just about sick to my stomach.”
“I know. Vonnie, I’m so sorry. I never should have kissed you like that, but I couldn’t help myself. For weeks now, I have tried to banish the feelings I have for you, but they just won’t go away.”
“Why would someone do this to us, Thomas? I mean, what’s the point? We’re two consenting adults! And poo
r Robbie. I just watched that video, and I have to tell you that I actually believe him about not being drunk. I got a good look at his eyes in that video, and he looked like he’d been drugged.”
“I think the whole point is to discredit us in the eyes of the City Council members, so that when we go before them about this land issue, we are so tarnished that no one cares what we want done about anything.”
“So, you think Marvel did this to us, too?” Yvonne asked, excited that she could finally express her thoughts. She hadn’t mentioned her suspicion of Marvel to Thomas, because Toya was right about one thing—she had been accusing that man of just about everything lately, and she hadn’t wanted Thomas to think she was paranoid, too.
“Marvel has something to do with this. I’m almost sure of it.”
“I wish you could tell that to Toya. She just left here in a huff because I accused her boyfriend of trying to destroy our family. She had the nerve to say that I was just paranoid, and I wanted to knock some sense into that girl’s head. But you know as well as I do that the heart sees only what it wants to see.”
“We’re just going to have to come up with some proof to convince her that this guy is a snake.”
A beep indicated that Yvonne had a call on the other line, but she ignored it. Probably just another annoying reporter trying to get a so-called exclusive, she thought. “What kind of proof can we find when I don’t even understand why he’s doing this to us? I don’t understand why he’s bringing my daughter into this, either.”
“There’s a lot I don’t understand, too. Where did this young man come from, and why does he have his sights set on the land occupied by our church? Like I said before, maybe we need to have the land evaluated to see if we’re sitting on oil or something.”
“If he’s willing to do all of this to get it, a person would certainly think the land must be worth more than we know,” Yvonne agreed.
“But you know what this tells me?” Thomas asked.
“What?”
“We must have made some headway with that guy at the mayor’s office. I thought he wasn’t interested in anything we had to say. But if Marvel felt he had to do this, then he must think it’s a possibility that he could lose his bid on our property.”
“What are we going to tell the congregation, Thomas? They are going to be mortified by all of this.”
“We’ll get through this, Vonnie. We’ve just got to trust that they understand that we are two consenting adults who have fallen in love with each other.”
Is that what they had done? No, wait a minute. Yvonne wanted to get off this ride and get back to the real world. She couldn’t be in love with Thomas because she had promised to love David “always and forever.” Those were the words she’d used before he’d died. Always and forever. She couldn’t just take those words back now, could she? “I’ve got to go, Thomas. I’ll talk to you later.”
They hung up, and as Yvonne sat back down, she realized that she was hyperventilating. She tried to calm her nerves by sheer will, which didn’t work. Then, she remembered Ecclesiastes 5:5–6: “Better not to vow than to vow and not pay. Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your hands?”
That was it. She had failed to keep her vow to her deceased husband, and now the works of her hands were being destroyed. The church building she and her husband had labored over would soon be torn down so that a factory could be erected in its place. And souls would be lost if Marvel got his way. And all because she wasn’t strong enough to keep her vow.
***
“My mom thinks you took those pictures of her and Uncle Thomas and that you video taped my sister’s drunken ex-fiancé,” Toya told Marvel on their way to the dinner party at the mayor’s. They were riding in Marvel’s BMW.
“Your mom is completely paranoid. Why would I do something like that to my girlfriend’s family?”
“I don’t know, Marvel. You tell me. Why would you do something like that?”
“Listen to you! Don’t tell me that you believe what your mom is saying about me. She doesn’t like me, Toya, so naturally she is going to blame me for anything bad that happens.”
Toya remembered that Marvel’s car had been stolen a few weeks ago, and yet Marvel had never said a word about the police having found it. “When did you get your car back?”
“Last week. Did I forget to tell you? Anyway, I can tell you about that later. I was just thinking that maybe I should start attending church with you.”
Toya gave him a look like he had lost his mind. “Marvel, I seriously doubt that you should be attending my mom’s church when she thinks you’re trying to destroy our family—and the church building.”
“You know what they say,” Marvel quipped. “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
Sixteen
Yvonne was having a bad day. As if that was something unusual. If she thought her church members had been dissatisfied with her behavior before, that was nothing compared to the way they felt now. Several members informed her to her face that if she didn’t stop carrying on with Thomas Reed, they would leave Christ-Life and join a “respectable” church immediately.
What upset the members of Christ-Life the most was the fact that the tabloids were claiming that Yvonne and Thomas had started their affair while David was lying on his sickbed and now felt free to rekindle their love because he was dead. Thomas dismissed the entire thing as silly and figured it would blow over quickly. But Yvonne valued her good name and had never had her character or motives questioned as they were being now. And it hurt.
Even though she knew that she hadn’t done what she was being accused of doing to her beloved husband, she felt ashamed. Yvonne had loved David until the day he died, and she loved him still. How people could be cruel enough to say the awful things they were saying about her, Yvonne simply didn’t know.
But she also didn’t have time to ponder the issue. Yvonne stood up and put on her white pastor’s robe. She had a sermon to preach, and Thomas had a baptism to perform. As she walked out of her office and headed down the hallway toward the sanctuary, Thomas met up with her.
“Are you okay?” he asked, stepping alongside her.
“Yeah, sure,” she said without looking at him.
“You’ve just been a little distant lately, so I wanted to make sure that I hadn’t done anything to upset you.”
“Thomas, this is not the place to discuss this. The gossips already have a mouthful of things to say about us. Let’s not give them anything more. Okay?”
“Okay, Vonnie. We’ll talk about this later.”
“That’s another thing,” Yvonne said. “Call me Yvonne. If people hear you calling me Vonnie, they’ll think all sorts of things.”
Thomas grabbed her arm, halting her. “I don’t care what these people say, Yvonne. I care about you, and I’m not going to let wagging tongues make me feel bad about it.”
Yvonne pulled her arm out of his grip and walked into the sanctuary. How was she supposed to preach with Thomas on her mind? But it turned out that she didn’t have to preach at all. The congregation went wild during Mike’s baptism. The people began to shout, the choir sang three extra songs, and then Thomas continued to baptize people.
It started with Robbie rushing down the aisle and begging Thomas to baptize him, too, after Mike’s baptism was complete. Many of the congregants probably recognized him as the guy who made a fool of himself in the YouTube video, so when he stood at the altar with bowed head and repentant heart, they got excited and started praising the Lord. Yvonne didn’t know what made Robbie come to the altar, but she sure wasn’t going to question it. She was smart enough to know a move of God when she saw one.
Thomas came down from the pulpit area and stood face-to-face with Robbie. “Do you remember when I told Mike that baptism doesn’t mean anything without salvation?”
“I remember,” Ro
bbie said.
“So, did you come down to this altar to give your life to Christ?” Thomas asked him.
Tears formed in Robbie’s eyes as he confessed, “I can’t do this on my own. I need God’s help. So, yes, I came down here to give my life to Christ.”
“All right, then. Raise your hands and repeat after me....”
Robbie lifted his hands and repeated, “Lord God, I know that I am a sinner, but I believe that Jesus Christ is Your Son, and that He died to set me free from sin....”
After the service, Robbie asked if he could speak with Tia and Yvonne in her office. Yvonne agreed. She escorted them into her office, then sat down behind her desk, inviting Robbie and Tia to sit on the couch. Robbie turned to Tia and said, “First, I want to apologize to you. You were right when you said that I wasn’t taking responsibility for my own actions. I shouldn’t have drunk that beer.”
“But you did, Robbie, and now we are the laughingstock of every person with a computer. Do you know how embarrassing it is that so many people have witnessed the nightmare you put me through?”
Robbie stood up and paced the floor. Then, he stopped and turned to Yvonne. “Do you remember when Pastor Reed was talking to me and Mike about giving our lives to Christ, but I wasn’t interested?”
Yvonne nodded. “I remember.”
He ran his hand through his short Afro. “Well, this week has been the worst week of my life. That video was plastered all over the Internet, and then my brother didn’t want to drink with me.”
A loud gasp escaped Tia’s lips. “After everything that’s happened, you still want to drink?”
He turned to Tia, pleading his case. “I didn’t want to, but I didn’t know how to stop myself, either. I was really messed up last week. You wouldn’t talk to me. People kept calling and laughing at me because of that video. So, I went and purchased some beer and some real hard liquor. I took it over to Mike’s place on Tuesday night, but he refused to even let me in the door. I went back to his house on Wednesday night and Thursday night, and he told me that I was being used by the devil to tempt him.
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